permanent

It’s a lot to ask of tech companies to host all of our data indefinitely, says Caplan. Although data storage costs per unit have decreased by around 90% in the past decade, we require more and more of those units each day as the amount of data increases exponentially. Other considerations include the environmental cost of powering the computers that store that data and the risk that keeping data indefinitely creates a larger and larger “attack surface” for cybercriminals.  A rolling history All that data consists of…

Google has announced a change to its inactive account policy, so if an account is unused for at least two years, it will now be deleted.The change to Google's inactive account policy (opens in new tab) comes with the company stating that older accounts that lie unused are at higher risk of being compromised due to a lack of two-factor authentication and older, easy-to-guess passwords.Ruth Kricheli, VP of Product Management, said, "To reduce this risk, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to 2 years…

Sweden is building the world’s first permanent electric road that will charge EVs while they’re on the move. The country has already piloted four temporary electrified roads, including in the city of Lund, in Southern Sweden (pictured above). But this 21 km (13-mile) stretch of road is going to be permanent. The electrified road is being built by Swedish transport administration Trafikverket, which is currently working procuring a contractor for the project. Trafikverket has not yet chosen…

With the announcement of the Pixel 7a today, many are wondering what will happen to the Pixel 6a? Well, the good news is, Google is keeping it in the lineup. Which means a price drop is on the way. Starting today, Google is dropping the price, permanently to $349 for the Pixel 6a. That’s a bit of a surprising price, since we’ve routinely seen it on sale for $299, almost since Black Friday in November. $349 is still a great price, but at $299, it makes it even sweeter. That leaves the lineup like this: Pixel 6a – $349…

As countries across Europe scale up efforts towards fossil fuel-free mobility, Sweden is working on the world’s first permanent electric road — allowing electric cars and trucks to charge while driving. The project is led by the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, which has selected the E20 highway. Specifically, it will build the electric road system (ERS) on the 21km route from Hallsberg to Örebro, located between the country’s two largest cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg. The…

Reddit has announced a new feature for subreddits: chat channels. The launch comes with a disclaimer from the company that previous Chat launches were not done "in the best ways" and that this approach focuses on small communities and mod tools to, ideally, be better.  Chat channels do differ in a few ways from the Live Chat feature, for example, existing as a permanent space in the subreddit, rather than a fleeting post. They're also operated by the mods, who can choose to block responses, pin messages and to chat in a…

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club of mostly rich countries based in Paris, has spearheaded talks on the tax which primarily targets digital giants (Illustration: Rahul Awasthi)A levy imposed by Britain on the revenues of big tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon in 2020 as a stopgap measure pending an international tax agreement risks becoming permanent, a group of tax experts said on Wednesday. The levy was introduced after concerns were raised about low levels of tax paid by…

Credit: Shutterstock Sunday will mark the end of the Daylight Saving Time (DST) in eastern Australia, but there are many who would like to see it last longer or permanently. Twice a year, New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and South Australia make this shift. Queensland, Western Australia and the…

Once upon a time, the roles were reversed.Democrats were, if anything, skeptical of foreign intervention. Many, especially in the liberal and progressive wings of the party, saw war as inhumane, policing the world as folly and the Pentagon as bloated. Humbled by failure in Vietnam, the party that gave us Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern and Jimmy Carter pursued cooperation rather than conflict as the order of the day. Republicans, on the other hand, were more unabashedly hawkish — willing to flex U.S. military muscle and…

Virtual reality went from a wild, sci-fi idea to a real, physical technology you can have in your house — and it’s even gotten cheap. Arguably the simplest use of VR technology is in the Meta Quest Pro. It’s a plug-and-play VR headset that anyone can just strap on and use. Meta recently announced that they’re reducing the price of the Quest VR headsets. That discount is here, and you can now grab the Meta Quest Pro for $1,000, instead of its old price of $1,500. Get your at Best Buy today. Why you should buy the…